Types of Evaluations

Your Rights

If you have received Evaluation Consent Form (Attachment to N1), before you sign and return this form, you may request a “pre-evaluation conference” to talk with a school professional(s) about the 5 W’s (Who, What, When, Where, Why):

who will conduct each evaluation

what evaluations/tests would be helpful

when will your child be taken out of classes to be tested

where will your child be given the test/evaluations

who will be explaining why the evaluations are happening?

As stated in Special Education Regulation:
28.04(1)(c) School districts shall provide the student’s parents with an opportunity to consult with the Special Education Administrator or his/her designee to discuss the reasons for the referral, the content of the proposed evaluation, and the evaluators used.

The MA Special Education regulation states that each school evaluator must include the following in their written evaluation report:

The procedures employed to evaluate the student

The results of the evaluation (including the tests used)

The evaluator’s diagnostic impression of the student

State explicit means of meeting the student needs

May recommend appropriate types of placements, but must not recommend specific classroom or school.

Types of evaluations

There are several types of evaluations/assessments that can be done by school systems or independently. This webpage describes eleven type of assessments/evaluations. If the school is evaluating your child, they must be evaluated in ALL the areas of suspected disability.

Educational Evaluation – an assessment of reading, written language, spelling and math. The reading evaluation includes assessment of word analysis skills (word attack, decoding), word recognition, oral reading rate, and comprehension. Educational Testing will serve as a baseline against which future progress can be measured.

Psychological Evaluation – a measure general cognitive ability. Dept. of Education defines an “psychological Assessment” by an authorized psychologist or school psychologist including an individual psychological examination and culminating in specific recommendations. Sensory, motor, language, perceptual, attentional, cognitive, affective, attitudinal, self-image, interpersonal, behavioral, interest, and vocational factors are evaluated in regard to the child’s maturity, integrity and dynamic interaction within the educational context. The assessment is based on the child’s developmental and social history, diagnostic observation of the child in a familiar surroundings (such as a classroom) and psychological testing as indicated. Psychological testing may include, but is not limited to: intelligence testing, educational achievement testing, personality evaluation, a vocational interest evaluation, assessment of brain damage, and neuropsychological examination.

Neuropsychological Evaluation – provides a global picture of your child’s approach to doing things, based on patterns of strengths, weaknesses and integration among a range of neurological measures and can be a good way to diagnose ADD, autism, PDD or specific LD issues. (This evaluation is done when there are learning, behavioral or social concerns.)

Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) – a problem-solving process for addressing student problem behavior. It is used to identify the purposes of specific behavior and to help IEP team select interventions to directly address the problem behavior. It is the process of determining the cause (or “function”) of behavior before developing an intervention. FBA is used to create Behavior plans, contain: strategies, document skills the students need in order to behave in a more appropriate manner, or plans providing motivation to conform to required standards. The plan should be proactive. Positive intervention plans teach new ways of behaving and address both the source of the problem and the problem itself. The interventions must be based on the hypothesized cause (function) of behavior.

Speech and Language Evaluation – an assessment of receptive language (the ability to understand spoken language), expressive language (the ability to formulate and organize oral language and written language), phonological processing (the ability to manipulate individual sounds within words), articulation, voice, auditory memory, pragmatics (the ability to use language effectively to interact with people). One of the commonly used speech and language test used to assess expressive and receptive oral language is the CELF = Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals.

Auditory Processing Evaluation – An audiologist evaluates, identifies, measures and treats hearing disorders, loss and central auditory processing (CAP) issues. This evaluation is performed by Audiologists who are found at most major hospitals, school do not perform this evaluation. Note: Central Auditory Processing (CAP) and Visual Processing, also involves short-term memory, represents the actual quantity of pieces of information taken in by either the auditory or visual areas of the brain to understands, interprets or categorizes information, not the hearing organs themselves.

Occupational Therapy (OT) Evaluation – an evaluation of fine and gross motor skills, visual motor integration, visual perception or visual processing, (The terms, “visual processing” and “visual perception”, are often used interchangeably. See the “Note above.) and sensory integration (SI).

Physical Therapy (PT) Evaluation – An evaluation of physical activities such as sitting, standing, crawling, walking, running, and climbing. It looks at your child’s body strength, coordination, balance, and symmetry as he moves and control his body, and how he plans new motor activities. The PT will want to do know what your concerns are about your child’s development and why you wanted to do have a PT evaluation. The PT will ask you about your child’s birth history and developmental milestones. Your child’s typical routine during the day and what his favorite and least favorite activities are, and what sort of outdoor games or playground toys he enjoys.

Assistive Technology (AT) Assessment – An assessment to find ways to meet the needs of the student by matching the strengths and weaknesses of the student to the device. Key in examining the academic area is remembering that the device should not be used to replace interactions with the teacher or peers, nor should it be used to replace instruction (Garner & Campbell, 1987). The device should enhance interactions and learning. The goal for AT use is to allow learners to use their strengths and participate as fully as possible in the school. Some of the commonly used devices and software programs are listed on our Tools & Technologies webpage.

Transition Assessment (TA) – An assessment of combination of the following types: Paper and pencil tests, structured student and family interviews, community or work-based assessments (situational) and curriculum-based assessments. These assessments or procedures come in two general formats – formal and informal. Informal measures may include interviews or questionnaires, direct observations, anecdotal records, environmental or situational analysis, curriculum-based assessments, interest inventories, preference assessments, and transition planning inventories. Formal measures include adaptive behavior and independent living assessments, aptitude tests, interest assessments, intelligence tests, achievement tests, personality or preference tests, career development measures, on the job or training evaluations, and measures of self-determination.

Home Assessment – An assessment by an authorized social worker, nurse, guidance counselor teacher or psychologist. For pertinent family history and home situation factors including, with parental consent, a home visit. This assessment includes a description of pertinent family history and individual developmental history and estimates of adaptive behavior at home, in neighborhood, and in local peer groups. Estimates of adaptive behavior are to the greatest possible degree on information obtained by direct observation of the child. or direct interview of the child in the neighborhood setting.

Teacher Assessment/Observation – An assessment by the classroom teacher to include current information on the student’s present level of performance (PLOP) in the general curriculum.

Disclaimer

Please note that the Concord Public/Concord-Carlisle Regional SEPAC does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of any information presented on any third-party websites listed on this site. In addition, the SEPAC does not endorse any of the informational content appearing on third-party websites or any of the providers posted on the SEPAC website.